Leeds restaurant inspired by Marcus Rashford to offer one thousand free dinners on Christmas Day

The Indian restaurant will offer people a free pre-made dinner to take away between 2pm and 4pm on Christmas Day.

Over a thousand meals will be prepared by Mumtaz in a bid to combat hunger in the local community during the festive period.

Mumtaz, which is located on Leeds Dock, has previously run several initiatives in order to feed the hungry, including serving meals to the homeless in 2016 and giving away free school meals to children during the 2020 October half term.

Last year's free school meal scheme was inspired by the continuous campaigning of Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford, who took a stand against the 2020 vote that saw MPs vote against the extension of free school meals into the school holidays.

As a long running tradition of the restaurant, this year they aim to hand out enough meals to feed the local community and meet the demands of those most in need across the city.

Sharing their campaign online, they said:

“Inspired by Marcus Rashford once more. Reminding us again this is about doing our part to help.

“Any person, whether needy or not, please come to us on Christmas Day (25 December) between 2pm to 4pm and we will provide you with a pre-made dinner to take away. We ask you to kindly prioritise and think about those who actually will need this bit of festive joy and kindness. We will prepare over 1000 meals so there should be plenty.

“Please arrive in a safe manner as we do not know what the Covid rules will be by that time.

"Covid has truly ruined our hospitality industry and the new restrictions have put us back on our knees BUT we again thank people like @marcusrashford and @cheftomkerridge who have inspired us and reminded us that we must always remember to be grateful and help others."

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